Cold Fire
by kimothy
Summary: The Dragon Hunters hold on the Archipelago is as strong as ever; Hiccup and the team fight tirelessly against them; a new threat is lurking in the shadows and a stranger washes up on a beach of the The Edge amidst an attack. Set during RTTE, multiple OCs, diverges from show, rating may change for later chapters
1. Prologue

_Prologue_

 _A cold mist hung in the air, the late evening sun casting its last rays through the thick canopy of trees. Spots of light danced on the forest floor from shadows cast by the leaves being gently pulled about in the breeze. Hidden underneath the thick branches of a sycamore, there was a young woman crouched among its roots. She had a hunting knife if her hand and was cutting away at the roots of a plant with deep blue flowers._

 _Her hood was pulled high over her face, falling just above her brow. Her breath came out as billows of white and the occasional shiver made her retreat further into her fur lined cloak. She continued to collect the plant, pausing momentarily when she heard a distant roar. She thought nothing of it, but then she heard it again. Her first thought was a lone dragon on the other side of the island. Her theory was quickly disputed as a scream ripped through the air. A scream that sent goosebumps up her arms and made her grip tighten on the knife._

 _The small growth of the blue flower was located at the bottom of a hollow, with a steep rocky cliff on one side and a much shallower slope on the other side. Getting to her feet she quickly snatched up the blue flowers and tore off up the slope, following the sickening chorus of screams and shouts._

 _When she finally reached the village, fires were raging everywhere she could see, houses with collapsed this, that and the other and men, women and children desperately running around trying to deal with the fires. But the woman's eyes were fixed to the sky, searching for the only beasts capable of causing destruction of this size. Before she could go any further a large scaly creature swooped down in front of her sending a flaming balls of carnage towards a house._

 _Her breath caught in her throat as the flames engulfed the wooden structure and without a second thought she ran head-long into the blaze, shouting "Mum! Corey!"_


	2. Chapter 1

Chapter I: Reckless abandon

Waves lapped around Erika's unconscious form. She was splayed out on her front, her blood stained and downright filthy clothes plastered to her skin.

Her hearing came back first; for a while all she could hear was the waves whirling up around her torso, but soon enough she could hear the shouts of men further away and the distinct clash of metal on metal as weapons were swung around with deadly precision.

Next her eyes flickered open, blurry for a time, but with a few blinks she could make out shapes and colours, until finally a relatively clear picture of the scene erupting a few lengths up the beach was thrust upon her. A couple of bulky men with similar dress were rounding on a much smaller man who seemed to be wielding, although from a distance, a flaming sword. She pushed that fact away however as the icy grips of the water around her was threatening to coax her back into unconsciousness. She grunted at the effort of bringing her knees up underneath her, pain flared across her back, a violent throbbing making her breath quick and shallow.

Her body made further protest when she pushed herself to stand on her feet, unsteady at first, but on her feet nonetheless. She narrowed her eyes at the unfolding fight in front of her. The smaller man seemed to be holding the pair of bigger men at bay, but as some distant shouts grew louder it was obvious his luck was dwindling.

The heated exchange was escalating quickly, but the smaller man's luck didn't run dry to soon though as he had managed to take out one of the men and had the other at his mercy. Erika took a few shaky steps forward, her mind still foggy with cold and hazy with pain. She only managed a few strides before the smaller man had spotted her and called out with a hostile question taking his own slow steps towards her.

Before she could respond, in the corner of her vision, she spotted a fourth man creeping along the tree line running parallel to the beach. He was watching them intently, a crossbow raised and a finger, presumably, poised on the trigger. She opened her mouth to speak but all that came out was a meagre croak followed by a cough.

He let the arrow fly.

The other man clearly had keen senses because the soft whistle of the projectile as it flew through the air was enough to make him turn. It was to little to late though as the arrow hit its mark; embedding itself in his side. He gaped at nothing for a while until the initial shock began to ebb away and his face twisted with pain; then he fell to his knees. Erika internally grimaced for him, but again, she had no time to react as the man with the crossbow rounded on her and shouted a different hostility her way. By his aggressive manner and features locked in anger she decided it was best to raise her hands, but she kept her mouth shut.

"Who are you?" He said as he aimed the crossbow at her chest, and it was obvious that he didn't need much persuasion to kill her then and there. She closed her eyes, the gears in her brain working overdrive to accumulate even the slightest idea of a plan to get out of her rather dangerous predicament. But nothing came.

When she opened her eyes again the man had moved closer and was clearly moments away from making his decision, so she made a silent prayer to anyone listening and shot forward, ducking low, thankfully quick enough and downright stupid enough to catch the man off guard, and wrapped her arms around his waist to tackle him to the ground. The pair hit the sand with a thud and for the split-second he was too stunned to move she twisted her feet up to meet his neck and used the temporary position of power to slam her hand down on top of his and forced him to fire the arrow up the beach and lodge itself into the sand. He hissed in annoyance and flung her away with his legs.

She hit the ground hard, the air forced from her lungs, but while she lay dazed for a moment a shrill noise started up, one she had heard only once.

She instinctively flipped herself over to her front to catch at glimpse at the infamous creature but the impact of a searing hot blast erupting at the bigger man's feet made her flinch. Her senses kicked into overdrive. Her heart was beating so fast it hurt and she desperately tried to keep herself calm.

Looking up again she locked eyes with the lithe black shape emerging from the tree line. Deep, amazing green eyes staring her down, scales lined every body part, as dark as the night. It's face was fixed in a menacing growl and it had its back arched in extreme aggression: a Night Fury. It stalked towards her and bared it's teeth and soon enough a purple glow started to appear from deep inside it's throat. Getting closer and closer to her still, she managed to get onto her hands and knees, it reared up onto it's hind legs it let out a deafening roar; slamming its forelegs back down again. The breath hitched painfully in Erika's throat as she shut her eyes tight again, seeing no way out of this one.

A pained gasp cut the creature off almost instantaneously. It swung its broad head to stare at the smaller man who had managed to get to his feet. Blood soaked his clothes and the arrow still protruded from his side. He coughed, trying to speak. He tried again and managed to squeeze out a word. "Toothless."

It was almost inaudible, but both her and the dragon seemed to catch it. He was swaying precariously on his feet, earning the support of the dragon as it bounded over to help his injured companion.

Only moments had past before dozens of men were soon scattered along the tree line, some with swords and axes and others with crossbows. Erika barely dared to move, let alone breath as the smaller man caught onto to her line of sight. The three of them were practically surrounded and she was in no condition to fight a lone foe, let alone a small army. Her fight or flight response was agonisingly present in the forefront of her mind but she shrugged it off.

"Play along." She hissed under her breath, making the Night Fury's ears perk up and the man to look over his shoulder at Erika. His face was tinted pale and lines of pain were etched into his features, a glint of panic in his eyes. She took a deep breath, rolled her shoulders and cleared her throat.

"Everyone just calm down." She took a step forward. They readied their weapons.

"I think it would be in all of your interests to keep us all alive." Another step. More clinks of metal.

"And why's that?" A gruff voice started up, from a man wielding a battle-axe stained in blood from battles-gone-by.

"Why you ask?" She swallowed nervously, "Because we are the only ones who know the location of what you all seek."

"And what might that be?" He growled back.

"You know..." She gave the small man a sideways glance, "The dragon eye."


	3. Chapter 2

Chapter II: A Man and His Night Fury

The young man's eye snapped up to her, a mixture of anger and shock filling his eyes. She raised her eyebrows at him pointedly.

"What do you know of the artefact?" The man with the battle axe scowled.

"Only it's location." The lie flowed easily off her tongue, "But you won't be getting anything if any of us are harmed. Understand?"

She stared at him defiantly, as he mumbled to himself then to the man next to him. "Can you get us out of here?" She whispers to the young man - only now realising he had a prosthetic for a leg. She didn't take her eyes off the soldiers in front of them as he nodded slightly.

"How do we know you're telling the truth girl?" The man said curtly, flexing his grip on his battle axe.

"Well you see," She took a wide step to the side, "that's a very good question, you see if I'm telling the truth and you kill me you lose any chance of ever finding the Eye, but on the other if I'm lying and you believe me well that would be spectacular wouldn't it? But you'd also kill me, so does it really matter?" The man opened his mouth to speak but she raised hand as she took another step to the side.

"Now I am able to tell you one thing," The young man had also moved, already a foot in the saddle of the Night Fury, who was raising his wings ever so slightly, "That was all bollocks."

The next few moments were a blur: the young man swung his other leg over the dragon, the soldiers moved to take them down, Erika ducked and rolled away from an arrow that zipped past and before she could get back on her feet again large claws were lifting her off the ground and into the sky, a strong grip around her middle. The sensation it gave her filled her with awe but she couldn't relish in it for more than a few seconds as she suddenly remembered the small army underneath her, already firing and shouting after them.

The were quickly gaining height, spiralling upwards, and getting out of range, but arrows were still flying past and by chance one of them managed to head directly for the Night Fury's underbelly. She reached forwards and miraculously managed to snatch it out of the air as it began to loose its momentum; the lower corners of the arrow head sliced through the skin of her hand but she would take a slight cut to plummeting to her death with a downed dragon any day.

Thankfully the arrows were now arcing a few feet beneath them and falling back to the ground, unable to reach there targets. Relief washed over her as their flight evened out and they began gliding through the sky, the clouds with arms reach. Erika didn't let go of the the arrow, already deciding she may need it later, and tucked it into her belt.

They had covered a good few miles before she heard a slurred murmur from somewhere above her followed by a worried gargle from the dragon somewhere else above her, and soon a scaly face was looking directly at her, its chin resting against its chest. She paused for a moment to take in the creatures features, unaltered by anger before she spoke gingerly, trying to find the right words, "Hey, we need to land, we need to sort out that wound..." There was no reply, "Hey!"

"Wha- what..." He spoke barely above a whisper.

"We need to land." She looked directly into its green eyes when she spoke, hoping it would understand.

They banked quite abruptly to the left, making their way to a small clearing, hopefully far enough away from the soldiers that they won't be showing up any time soon. After only moments they were swooping as low as the trees where she could wriggle free of the the dragons grip and lower herself to the ground with a branch. They landed with the softest of thuds as Erika walked over to them, and helped the very pale man off his mount until he practically fell to the floor beside a boulder. "Hiccup."

"Huh?" She placed her hands lightly around the arrow, a crease in her brow.

"My name..."

"Hiccup," She repeated, "I'm Erika."

He nodded feebly before looking down at his chest. The arrow was protruding from his stomach, off centre but blood had still seeped into most of his shirt, turning the already dark red even darker.

The Night Fury was scrutinising her every move, not taking his eyes off her for a second as she moved away and she washed her hands in the stream. She turned back to the face the dragon who now stood defensively in front of Hiccup. "Look I get it okay, but if you want me to help him I need to actually get to him."

"Toothless..." He managed to say, "It's okay." His voice was shaky but she could already tell from the short amount of time she'd known the two that they shared a strong bond and a deep rooted respect for each other, the fact puzzled her but there was something about it that she couldn't help feeling jealous about.

Toothless dipped his head slightly and shuffled to the side of his wounded companion. "Can you sit forwards?"

He nodded through gritted teeth and with a little help from Erika he moved forwards from the large rock he was supporting his back with. She felt his back for an exit wound but unfortunately there was none. With a sideways glance from the man to the dragon Erika sat back on her haunches.

"Erika-"

She cut him off as she took the end of the arrow in her hand. In a swift motion she forced to arrow the rest of the way through his side until the arrow head was exposed to the air once again, dripping with blood. Hiccup shouted in pain, instinctively grabbing Erika's wrists. Toothless snarled at her, also acting on his instincts, but didn't move.

Erika pried Hiccup's hands off of her and with an apologetic look reached around to his back and snapped the arrowhead off of the shaft of the arrow and finally pulled the rest of the arrow out the way it went in.

She wiped at the wounds with a cloth still trying to assess the extent of the damage. The wound on the front of his chest still flowed dangerously so with blood "Okay look, you're going to bleed out if we don't stop the-"

"Burn it shut." He cut her off, his gaze hardening for a moment, a façade of bravery covering the obvious pain. His words took her by surprise for a moment, but she knew he wasn't joking.

"I have to get back to my friends, Erika, do it."

Nodding, she got to her feet again and spun herself round on one foot until she spotted a short branch laying on the ground among the roots of - presumably - the original tree. She snapped it in two over her knee so she had a piece about the length of he forearm. Turning again she placed it onto a large, flat stone. Before she could do anything else Hiccup made a sluggish gesture with his hand, apparently telling the Night Fury to release a hot ball of plasma, leaving the stick smouldering.

She carefully picked it up, locking eyes with Toothless for a few moments, a mutual distrust sitting uncomfortably between them. She shook it off.

"Okay, this will hurt so," Cocking her head towards the dragon, "I'd appreciate it if you didn't bite something off."

For a brief moment she swear she saw a small smile tug at Hiccup's lips, but she dismissed it; took a deep breath, let him take a deep breath and pressed the charred wood against the wound, awarding a pained scream and the quietest of sizzles.


End file.
